


weather report

by jified



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Genre: F/F, theres a wedding and the ages arent specified but i pictured them 20+ so dont worry please
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-11-30
Packaged: 2019-02-08 18:46:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12870759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jified/pseuds/jified
Summary: Mae has always loved storms, and Celica brings one hell of a thunder.





	weather report

(11)

Mae is fourteen when the realisation hits her like a lightning bolt; that, to her dismay, when she says, "I want to be like Celica," it actually means, "I want to be with Celica."

And also that she's completely, utterly, irrevocably doomed. 

 

(39)

Mae stands in front of the mirror, opens and closes her mouth. It's hard to get the words out, even to nobody, and it's probably not one of Mae's best ideas to try this out in front of a mirror. In front of herself. Where she can all too clearly see what a fool she's making of herself. 

Still, Mae swallows, grabs The Box, squeezes her eyes shut because oh Mila, this is so embarrassing, and gets down on one knee. In front of a mirror. (In front of Celica.)

Mae opens one eye, just to make sure that Celica's not anywhere near this travesty. She isn't. But Mae is, and when she looks at the mirror, she can see her own blushing visage. Mila, Mila, Mila, please strike her down with a bolt from the sky-

(Oh, Mae thinks, Mila's not here anymore.)

She opens her mouth anyway, because she's not a damn coward.

"Celica-"

 

(43)

"Please marry me!"

 

(7)

Celica carries herself with the dignity of a princess (because she is one), the kindness of a priestess (because she is one, kinda), and the kickassness of being Celica (because she is, well, Celica). She grasps the teachings of Mila and magic as easily as Mae shoots off her mouth. When she smiles, it's like Mae is watching thunderstorms and lightning and the peek of the gods through the gaps in the clouds. 

"She's so cool," Mae gushes to Nomah, who gazes at her with all the benevolence of a priest (because he is one). Boey groans at her side, too unfortunately used to her casual disrespect. Mae continues, even when Boey's groans get louder and more obviously a mangled version of, "Shut up, Mae."

"And pretty," says Mae, "and nice, and I want to be like her someday."

At that, Nomah laughs. Mae blinks at him, cocking her head. 

"Nothing, my child," he chuckles out after a beat, and Mae files it away under "things that Nomah is real weird about".

"Whatever," she says, and returns her gaze to Celica. "I'm going to be her best friend!"

"You can't just decide that on your own," Boey tells her, and Mae smacks him one. 

 

(21)

It's hard to get privacy on a relatively small boat like the one they're currently hitching a ride on, especially when bandits attack nearly everyday. Still, Mae's not going to let it stop her from getting her Celica time. 

"Celcs!" she cries out joyfully, banging the door to Celica's room open. Celica, to her credit, doesn't even flinch. Celica, instead, like the beautiful, amazing, brilliant, Mila-blessed, perfect girlfriend she is, smiles at Mae. 

Mae feels like she's going to spontaneously combust and die. But, in like, the good way. 

Mae beams back, and pounces. The bed is not very comfortable, but the warmth and weight of Celica make up for it so Mae supposes she can forgive it this one time. Not when she's sleeping, though. 

"Mae," Celica responds, "what brings you here?"

"Do I need a reason," Mae snorts. She grins and tosses an arm over Celica, snuggling into her side. Celica tilts her head, leans that tiny distance into Mae's head.

"No, I suppose not," says Celica. And when she kisses Mae, it's like the euphoria Mae felt when lightning first crackled out of her fingertips. 

 

(16)

Mae kisses back. 

 

(37)

"I'm thinking of proposing," Mae blurts out.

"Uh," Boey says. "You should probably be telling Celica that, not me."

Mae sulks, shoulders dropping as she sprawls out over Boey's bed. Boey narrows his eyes at her, before sighing and shaking his head. The bed creaks with his newly added weight, and Mae very politely and compassionately shifts over slightly to make room. 

"Yeah, but it has to be special," she emphasizes, tossing around onto her back and waving her arms in the air. "Like, special fit-for-a-princess special."

"I don't think Celica cares," Boey says. Mae scowls at him. 

"Well, obviously I know that," she says, rolling her eyes, and Boey sighs again, louder. And again. And before he does it for the third time, Mae interrupts with a, "Shut up, Boey."

"You're the one barging into people's rooms and invading their privacy and asking about proposing to their girlfriend," he snaps at her, and Mae resists the urge to mock him for never being able to do the latter, anyway. Because Mae's a great person and an even better friend. Who has an even better girlfriend who will become the best Queen that Valentia will ever know, so like, no shit she wants advice. 

She tells Boey this. Boey squeezes his eyes shut and pinches the bridge of his nose. He looks like he normally does whenever Mae goes out into the rain, and comes back in dripping water all over. 

"Have you thought," he says, "about just getting down on one knee and asking her to marry you."

"That's boring," Mae says immediately. 

"It's tradition," Boey retorts. 

"And it's boring," Mae repeats. "It has to be amazing, like Celica, and perfect, like Celica, and-"

"Milady is indeed full of good qualities, and I know all and more about them, so I really don't require a recount of them," Boey says. Because he's boring. 

"You're boring," Mae tells him, just to make sure he knows. 

"And you're far too interesting, I suppose," Boey says, but when he sighs (again!) it's filled with affection so Mae counts it as a win in her books. 

 

(32)

Celica makes for a beautiful queen. Maybe it's weird to have a king and a queen not be married, but apparently, "fuck politics" is the way to go in this new day and age. That's what the kid from King Alm's side — Cliff? Or something like that — had snarked out, and Mae agreed very deeply. 

Oh, this'll cause problems for sure, but Mae doesn't care. As long as Celica's happy, she's happy. And if Celica's not happy, Mae's just fine with firing off a few Thunder spells. 

"Don't use violence against my citizens," Celica snorts when Mae tells her this. Mae pouts, and crosses her arms. 

"I'll only use them against the ones who totally deserve it," she wheedles. 

Celica just shakes her head with a grin on her face. 

"Okay," Celica acquiesces, later, when they're both sinking into the plush queen bed (literally), facing each other after some light-hearted messing around. "Bandits and pirates are fine."

"That's a given," Mae tells her. Celica huffs, and Mae can see how the line of her body shifts all too clearly. 

"Show some gratitude to your queen," Celica sniffs, mock turning her head up, and Mae giggles as Celica breaks out into a grin, and takes the invitation. She leans in to presses butterfly kisses against Celica, breath light and eyes closed. 

"I love you," Mae says after each kiss, "I love you, I love you, I love you."

 

(15)

"Shouldn't you be inside?" Celica asks. Mae jerks, and spins around, eyes wide. Rain pours down on the both of them, and Mae's eyes lock onto Celica's drenched figure. 

"Celica!" she gasps, and stumbles forward. Thunder rolls and raindrops hit the ground with a _thudthudthud_ , and Celica's words are lost to the wind as Mae grabs her shoulders. "You're going to catch a cold! Or- or get electrocuted! Go inside!"

Celica laughs, and Mae can barely make out the, "I could say the same to you," that tumbles out of her mouth. Mae kinda- shakes her, by the shoulders, then stops because holy shit she's shaking the princess of Zofia but Celica just laughs more. 

"I'm fine," Mae tells her, already starting to direct her back to the priory. "I've done this a whole ton of times, and the storms like me, but it's really bad for you, okay, so just, go back," she babbles, and gives Celica a light push for good measure. 

"Storms like you?" Celica asks, relaxing against Mae's hands and allowing herself to get shoved toward the building. Not that she's helping Mae any with the movement department. 

"Yeah, Nomah said it was like one of Mila's blessings or something, but he laughed a lot after that so I'm not really sure if he was serious..." Mae trails off as she considers the scene, but when lightning flashes, Mae jerks and renews her efforts to cart Celica back to the priory. 

Mae can barely hear the hum Celica emits, and the words that follow in the wake of the booming thunder. "That's nice," says Celica. "I can believe that you've been blessed by Mila."

Mae flushes, despite their cold, wet surroundings. 

"Uh," she says eloquently. Then she gathers herself and shakes her head. "No way! It's definitely you who's been blessed, I mean, princess and brand and prophecy and all, so, like, yeah, and you're so great and perfect and man just-"

Celica laughs as they stumble into the priory together. Water drips onto stone, their clothes sodden and drooping. Mae absently reaches up to wring the rain out of her hair. Celica does the same, and for a moment they're just two dumb girls who wandered out into a storm.

"You're going to catch a cold," Mae says, again. 

"It's fine," Celica replies. Mae shuffles her feet awkwardly.

"I meant it, you know," she blurts out. Celica cocks her head, listening attentively. Mae blabs on, "Storms like me. And I like them back. So I'm totally fine. But you, you're going to- I mean, not definitely, but- well, I mean, it's a storm and- well- it's, uh- that-"

"Mae," Celica says. Mae stops. Celica smiles at her. "It's fine."

Water trickles down the both of them and Mae stares into Celica's bright eyes, framed by soggy hair clinging to her face as her clothes sag against her body, heavy and drowned. Celica looks like she brought a piece of the storm back with her, lightning in her eyes and thunder rippling across her skin; the rain that trails down her cheeks. 

"You're really beautiful," Mae tells her, mouth-to-brain filter malfunctioning, and Celica leans forward to press her lips to Mae's for the first time. 

 

(1)

There's a commotion in the priory, and understandably so.

_Someone's coming,_ whisper the priestesses and nuns. _Someone's coming, it's her_. They talk in shadowed corners and lonely halls where they think nobody hears, but children can be remarkably sneaky when they want to be. Small and tiny and hiding in cracks.

_The princess is coming_ , they say. 

Mae has a good idea of what a princess is. Her mother used to tell her stories about princesses and knights and future kings and queens. They're sweet, kind, sincere, beautiful, perfect. Mother used to say, _oh, you, my sweet Mae, my little princess._ And Mae would say, _I'm not the princess, I'll be the knight!_ and mother would laugh and say, _yes, yes, my little knight, my little stormbringer._

( _It was dark and stormy_ , mother used to say. _Dark clouds looming and thunder booming. Lightning flashed across the sky when you were born, Mae, and oh, it was perfect._ )

(Mother had always been the humorous sort, in Mae's opinion.)

So Mae has an idea of what this princess will look like. Sweet and delicate, in need of saving, maybe. 

And then Celica comes. And she looks like a thunderstorm wrapped up in a pretty bow, eyes red from crying but a mouth set in a firm line, and Mae thinks, _oh_.

 

(50)

There are two weddings. One for the adoring public, another for themselves. The former is nothing to write home about, ribbons and carpets and glitz, oh my, but the latter, Mae thinks, won't ever leave her memory. 

They invite those from Celica's army, of course, and Alm and his villager friends. The three sisters have long made for Archanea, but they come back for this and Mae is touched. Really touched. So much that when they show up the day before to announce their arrival, Mae almost cries but then she reminds herself to save her tears for beautiful Celica in her beautiful wedding dress (for the second time), so. 

It's an emotional period in her life, what can she say. 

Thankfully, Mae does manage to save her tears for the proper moment. The wedding is all the way back on Novis, in the priory, of course. It's decorated simply, banners where need be and the chairs can fold. They've blew enough money on the public wedding, so whatever, fuck it. 

This does not stop Mae from crying at the altar when Celica walks down the aisle, though. Conrad accompanies her as they step on petals scattered by a very eager Genny, and she looks so beautiful and shit, how is she even more beautiful than the previous wedding?

Mae cries. Mae cries hard. 

They say _I do_ and kiss and it feels like a bunch of storm metaphors that Mae's too fucking elated to try to think of, but needless to say, it's lightning and thunder and everything Mae loves. 

The party is something. Mae cheers Saber on when he starts doing shots, and Boey looks suitably scandalised. She bumps shoulders with Leon because solidarity, hell yeah, and also shakes hands with the blue-haired priestess that the villager girl with Alm had brought as a plus one, because Mae's gaydar is always excellent. Said villager girl quickly pulls Silque away to hang with her other villager friends, whom Mae all gives a high five because they're cool too.

Chugs a bottle of rum next to Conrad, laughs with the three sisters, has an arm wrestling contest with Atlas (which she unfortunately loses, again) and fistbumps Jesse. Crashes Sonya and Deen's quiet conversation, before shoving Genny at Sonya because Sonya is totally Genny's new mom, then goes to Valbar to try and stop him from crying about young love, before giving up and going to chill with Kamui. 

Nomah just looks so fucking pleased with himself, so Mae ignores him. Until she doesn't because shit, it's _Nomah_ , her dad-not-a-dad. She cries for the second time, this time into Nomah's chest. 

It's a blast. Celica seems to think so too, judging by the blinding smile on her face. And when they kiss again, and again, and again, everyone cheers. 

 

(61)

"I've always had a crush on you, you know," Mae remarks one day. Celica blinks at her, before laughing. 

"I certainly hope so, else these rings be for nothing," she says, and holds up her hand to show off the glinting silver. Mae flushes, and feels her lips curve up of their own volition, before she tries to stamp it down and fails with a fit of giggles. 

"No, silly, I meant, I've always had a crush on you," Mae emphasises. "Like, legit, forever."

Celica opens her mouth. Then closes it. Then opens it again. And close. 

"I know right, it's unreal," Mae says. "Like, the kinda stuff outta fairytales. Then again, marrying a princess is kinda fairytale-ish, so I guess-"

"Me too," says Celica. 

Mae just kinda gapes for a moment. 

"What," she says. "No way."

Celica nods her head. "Yes way," she says. 

Mae shakes her head, hard. 

"No way!" she protests. "I'm just like, totally plain, dumb Mae, nothing like you, Celcs, I mean, what?"

Celica frowns at her. 

"Do you really think that," she asks, tilting her head. Mae gulps. "Mae," Celica says, "you're wonderful. I've told you so many times before. I love you, Mae."

Mae blinks at her. 

"Aw," she says, sounding a bit choked, "You really know how to make a girl happy."

Celica strides forward and kisses her. And yeah, Celica really knows how to make a girl happy, that's for sure. They're both grinning stupidly when they pull apart. 

"It's kinda funny, though," Mae comments, and laughs. "I didn't figure it out until I was like, fourteen. I always thought-"

"Let me guess," Celica cuts her off. She cocks her head, smiles widely. "Because I think I also thought the same. All along, I just kept thinking-"

And they say the next six words together. 

 

(2)

_I want to be like her._

 

(42)

This is it. No going back. Everything is perfect. A private dinner out on the balcony, glowing candlelight, and a smiling Celica. It's perfect, and everything is fine. 

_Everything is fine_ , Mae repeats to herself. 

"So," Celica asks, and Mae tells herself, _everything is fine_. "What's the special occasion?"

"Uh," Mae says eloquently. Now's her chance. Now's her chance. Now's her chance. 

"Mae?" Celica asks. Mae sweats. Uh. Shit. 

"Um," Mae says. "I love you."

Celica giggles. Oh fuck, she's so beautiful. Mae wants to die. Mae wants a hole to open beneath her and swallow her, killing her instantly. Mae wants a bolt of lightning to electrocute her. 

Mae wants Celica to say yes. 

Damn. Shit. 

"Seriously, though, Mae," Celica starts, adopting her serious queen tone, "Is there anything wrong? I-"

Mae cuts her off by getting out of her seat and getting down on one knee. Celica's eyes widen, and she gasps. Fuck, fuck, fuck, Mae is panicking. 

(But still, she's no damn coward.)

And so Mae opens her mouth, says this:

"Celica-"


End file.
